Japan Sharply Increased Scrambling Jets Against Chinese Planes

By

Yuka Hayashi

April 17, 2013 10:53 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan's air force scrambled fighter jets against Chinese aircraft a record number of times in the year ended in March, the Self-Defense Forces announced Wednesday, underscoring the sharp escalation in tensions in the East Asian sky as the two neighbors engage in a bitter territorial row.

Cases of such scrambles surged to 306 in the fiscal year that ended March 31, from 156 a year earlier. It was the highest number since the SDF, or the Japanese military, started breaking down the scramble data by country in 2001....